Brussels, 18/10/2011 (Agence Europe) -On Tuesday 18 October, MEPs on the European Parliament's internal market committee published their response to the European Commission's Green Paper on the professional qualifications directive which is to be unveiled later this year. Adopting a non-legislative report by Emma McClarkin (ECR, UK), the MEPs stressed the need for speedier, more reliable recognition of professional qualifications under a 2005 directive.
In a press release, the committee explained that the qualifciations of doctors, engineers, dentists and other professionals wanting to work in another EU member state have to be given official recognition much faster without compromising security and reliability.
In the opinion, the MEPs back the idea of a voluntary professional card under the IMI system (an internal market IT system) as a useful way of encouraging professionals to move around in the EU. They recommend that a proactive warning system be set up under IMI, to provide information to member states about the registration of professionals, the services they are authorised to carry out and disciplinary measures.
The MEPs asked for clarification of the current directive's language skills requirements and ask the Commission and the member states to update the language rules to give the competent authorities the flexibility they need to determine and, where necessary, test the technical and consersational language skills of professionsals during the process of examining their professional qualifications. The report will be put to the vote in plenary in Strasbourg.
The 2005 professional qualifications directive lays down rules for nearly 800 regulated professions in the EU, guaranteeing the automatic recognition of 7 professions, namely doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, midwives, vets and architests. (SP/transl.fl)